Are fat people destroying the environment? Yes, says Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. According to Chellaney, the “obesity epidemic” is a key cause of the global water crisis. He writes that:

• Growing prosperity, population size, and economic development are not the only factors behind the soaring consumption [of water]: the global population is also getting fatter, especially in wealthier countries. This promises to have a big impact on water demand, as fat people consume more water-intensive resources like food and energy than those who are fit, thus indirectly driving over-exploitation of natural resources, deforestation, and the release of greenhouse gases (Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis, 2013, xiii).

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